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Reverse Engineering a Missile Launcher Toy's Interface

Posted by Soulskill on from the target-that-explosion-and-fire dept.

nitro writes "A fairly in-depth technical report by the security researchers at TippingPoint was released on how to reverse engineer the proprietary protocol for controlling a USB missile-launching toy system. They develop an iPhone application to control the device. 'The hardware is coupled with a simple GUI controller written in Delphi (MissileLauncher.exe) and a USB Human Interface Device (HID) interface written in C++ (USBHID.dll). The toys lost their allure within minutes of harassing my team with a barrage of soft missile shots. That same night I thought I would be able to extend the fun factor by coding up a programmatic interface to the launchers in Python. ... One interesting thing is that we have a lot more granular control of the turret movement now than we did with the original GUI. I wrote two simple loops to count the number of possible horizontal and vertical ticks and the results were 947 horizontal and 91 vertical versus 54 and 10 from the original GUI respectively. Granular control allows you to slowly and quietly reposition the turret for stealthy attacks.'"

10 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Legal implications by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just as Phil Zimmermann famously had to distribute PGP internationally in print form to avoid violating munitions laws, wouldn't these guys have to be really careful about their elite missle launching software? If this code makes it to Syria or Iran, we're in for a mildly annoying attack with state of the art styrofoam weaponry.

  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. Good work. by curtinparloe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now you need to incorporate webcam target recognition and create an automated firing application.

    You could call it "Skynet".

    1. Re:Good work. by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

      That sounds fantastic. I'd love to jump out of bed at 3 am wondering where the iceberg is. And I won't need to squirt the deer with water, either; I just sleep on the porch, and when I fucking piss myself I can hose them down, too.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Good work. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd love to jump out of bed at 3 am wondering where the iceberg is.

            Thanks to global warming, there are no icebergs anymore. Oh, wait-

      Shit, an iceberg got him!

  4. Pft. by Spatial · · Score: 5, Funny

    No wireless. Less ammunition than an AH-64. Lame.

  5. Re:Python? by Clueless+Moron · · Score: 5, Informative

    His python code is here. It implements a HTTP web server (as well as a command line and direct socket server mode) that directly invokes a DLL to control the unit. And so in the video he can control the thing using the web browser in his cellphone.

    All the code is only 283 lines and easy to understand. I don't see anything awkward about it.

    In what way exactly would Lua be better at doing that?

  6. Re:Hacking somethign that did not need a hack. by woolpert · · Score: 5, Funny

    These have been "hacked" for years now. I had one running under linux in my cubicle 4 years ago using a webcam for auto targeting coworkers.

    The code. Put up or shut up, AC.

  7. Re:Cops and Robbers or Global Armageddon ? by cleatsupkeep · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was thinking of some joke a little more limp-wristed, which is what I always thought when I saw some kid talking about "Rouge Squadron". They fly the pink X-Wings, right?

    Pink 5 standing by... And FABULOUS

  8. Re:Hacking somethign that did not need a hack. by kostmo · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's true. http://code.google.com/p/pyrocket/wiki/RelatedWork I hacked the thing about a year ago and started this google code project. You will be able to apt-get this package in Ubuntu Jaunty.